In the speech, Cronan stated that the DOJ recognizes “the need for better defined ‘rules of the road’ in corporate enforcement” and that the DOJ “has taken affirmative steps to make our prevailing ‘rules of the road’ as plain and predictable as possible” citing as evidence, among other things, the DOJ’s November 2017 Corporate Enforcement Policy (CEP). (See here for numerous prior posts).

In honor of the start of the basketball season, I call a time out – a full time out!

As highlighted in this prior post, DOJ Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski recently announced a new DOJ monitor policy via this written memo titled “Selection of Monitors in Criminal Division Matters.”

The memo is not Foreign Corrupt Practices Act specific, but FCPA relevant as it establishes “standards, policy, and procedures for the selection of monitors in matters being handled by Criminal Division attorneys” and “shall apply to all Criminal Division determinations regarding whether a monitor is appropriate in specific cases and to any deferred prosecution agreement (“DPA”), non-prosecution agreement (“NPA”), or plea agreement between the Criminal Division and a business organization which requires the retention of a monitor.”

Before diving into the specifics of the memo, it is important to note the following.

In 2015 when the DOJ announced that it had retained a “compliance expert” to “provide expert guidance to Fraud Section prosecutors,” I called the move little more than a public relations move (see here for the prior post).

In mid-2017, the DOJ’s compliance counsel left her position and in doing so attempted to draw much attention to herself and her politics. (See here and here for prior posts).

This March 2018 post checked in with the DOJ regarding its compliance counsel vacancy and mum was the word from the DOJ. The prior post suggested that if the position was that important it would have been filed after nine months, but then again it never was that important but rather a public relations move.

Speeches by Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement officials have long included over-the-top rhetoric. (See this article for a general summary).

This recent post highlighted a speech by DOJ Deputy Assistant Attorney General Matthew Miner. In the speech, Miner stated that when a company voluntarily discloses FCPA issues and engages in remedial actions, this frees up DOJ resources and “these resources can then be directed to other cases, not only in the FCPA context, but also to other areas such as opioid enforcement, human trafficking, and crimes impacting vulnerable victims, like children and the elderly.”

The DOJ’s latest FCPA rhetoric does not even pass the smell test and set forth below are various reactions to this portion of Miner’s speech from FCPA practitioners.